Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.

I am not a pest," Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.

I was an only child; I didn't have a sister, or sisters.

She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.

I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.

Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language.

I had a very wise mother. She always kept books that were my grade level in our house.